A gamekeeper in Northumberland who says his livelihood has been ruined by a refusal to let him trap and kill the buzzards which are killing his pheasants has taken his case to the High Court.

Deerstalker and gamekeeper Richard McMorn wants to be able to control the predatory birds which he says have killed young pheasants on shoots he manages near Berwick.

Despite three times being recommended for a licence by Natural England experts, he has been repeatedly knocked back in his request for permission to kill or remove the birds, the court heard.

In a judicial review challenge which began on Wednesday, his lawyers told Mr Justice Ouseley that the licence refusals have had a devastating impact on Mr McMorn’s livelihood.

The four shoots he managed had suffered a ‘significant decline in return’ since 2011 and even Natural England accepted buzzards were the main cause.

Despite that, he had on five occasions been refused a licence under the Wildlife and Conservation Act 1981 to allow him to trap and then either kill or remove the birds, his barrister James Maurici QC said.

On three of those occasions, a licence had actually been recommended by technical experts at Natural England, the body which ensures protection of flora and fauna in England, he said.

“Importantly, they are the experts with Natural England, they are charged with assessing technical aspects of these applications,” the barrister continued.

“They visit the sites a number of times and they discuss the issues on site with the applicant.

“On each of these three occasions where recommendations have been made for a licence, they have been overturned by more senior - and we say non-technical, non-expert - persons at Natural England.”

Mr Maurici said that, since 2006, only eight cases out of 90,000 applications had gone to director level, and three of those involved Mr McMorn.

He said the evidential burden placed on applicants to convince the body that a buzzard licence should be granted was too high.

“Our case will be that the reality is that none will ever be granted if Natural England continue to deal with them in the way they currently do,” he continued.

“What they have done is they have decided to apply a different and much much higher evidential burden to buzzard applications to protect game birds than for other applications.”

In asking Mr McMorn to produce evidence of which actual buzzards are killing the pheasants, Natural England was effectively asking him to perform a ‘CSI-type investigation,’ he said.

“It is putting a burden on the applicant that, in reality, will be impossible to discharge,” he continued.

He said that, although in the past buzzards had been rare, they were a success story of conservation and not now considered to be rare at all.

Natural England is contesting Mr McMorn’s case in a three-day hearing at the High Court.

Speaking before the hearing, Mr McMorn said: “This is a real David and Goliath situation. I am having to battle the might of the state in the form of Natural England to protect my birds and my job.

“They admit I’ve got a problem and agree that I have done everything I can but still they won’t give me a licence. It’s unfair and it’s wrong. Hundreds of other people get licences to kill protected birds every year.”